Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Another flop for media and its heavily promoted anti-Trump "Resistance:" Democrat loses race for Omaha Mayor 53-46%, made his campaign against Trump and in favor of global warming industry, standing up for immigrants, and licenses for some illegals. Worse: Bernie Sanders and Keith Ellison campaigned for him and he still lost. Bernie said, 'The country is now looking at Omaha, Nebraska'-Omaha World-Herald

“To the community I love, thank you for rehiring me,” she said. “I’ll work harder than ever to make you proud of our work.”

She
said her focus during her second term will be public safety, the
budget, workforce development, transportation, neighborhood support and
making the city more welcoming. She also promised to reach out to the community leaders and elected officials who vocally opposed her. Most
vocal of those was Sheriff Tim Dunning, who appeared in an
anti-Stothert commercial, and the firefighters union, which spent
thousands of dollars supporting Mello. Some prominent business leaders
had also backed Mello.

Mello
told his supporters that the results weren’t what they anticipated, but
he urged young people not to give up and to be proud that their message
was heard.

Stothert told a jubilant crowd that Mello was a “tough competitor” and that now it's time for the city to come together. She got big applause for promising to work on downtown, “including a new riverfront as our signature.”...

The 37-year-old
also made a name for himself as the first Omahan in years to be elected
by fellow legislators to the position of chairman of the Appropriations
Committee....

In his concession speech, Mello hinted
at the Democratic Party discord that surrounded the Sanders appearance
as Mello’s anti-abortion stance came under attack.

Russell [a campaign strategist] declined to call
the Sanders appearance a mistake, but he said the debate struck a
dissonant tone for Omaha voters at a time when Mello wanted to focus on
such issues as potholes and the proposed streetcar project.

Stothert, 63, who
previously served on the City Council and the Millard school board, had
focused on the budget and public safety. She
noted that she successfully negotiated contracts with every bargaining
unit in the city and pushed for two property tax cuts."...

"U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders told a
cheering crowd in Omaha on Thursday that he thinks mayoral candidate
Heath Mello is part of the Democratic Party of the future.

But
some Democrats don’t agree, and Sanders’ appearance at a rally for
Mello at Baxter Arena sparked a national debate about whether the party
needs to focus on progressive policies and reject Democratic politicians
like Mello who are opposed to abortion.

Sanders
was in Omaha as part of a “Come Together, Fight Back, Vote Democrats”
national tour aimed at promoting Democratic candidates in local races
this year. Mello is running against incumbent Mayor Jean Stothert, a
Republican, in what is officially a nonpartisan race.

Sanders
is an independent U.S. senator from Vermont who unsuccessfully ran for
the Democratic nomination for president. He laid out a vision for the
country that he said involves a Democratic Party that “stand(s) up for
voters in 50 states, not just the West Coast and the East Coast.”

“Omaha, are you ready for a political revolution?” he asked the crowd of about 6,000....

"Omaha
attorney Dave Begley covered the appearances of presidential candidates
in Iowa and Nebraska for us over the past two years. Yesterday Keith
Ellison and Bernie Sanders came to town. The Omaha World-Herald was on handfor local readers. Dave reports:"

The Democrats desperately want an electoral win after their shocking
loss to Donald Trump in November. You know all about the millions of
dollars poured into a House race in Georgia, but the Omaha mayor’s race
represents a far better opportunity for the Dems. While Hillary Clinton
could not even get 35 percent of Nebraska’s vote, she won within the
city boundaries of Omaha.

Democrats outnumber Republicans by 16,000 in
Omaha.So if the Dems can turn out their people on May 9, incumbent GOP
mayor Jean Stothert could be defeated by Democrat Heath Mello. The
election is all about turnout.

The official theme of the event was: “Come together. Fight back.” The
fighting back is obviously against President Trump and the evil GOP.

Minnesota’s own Keith Ellison spoke for 20 minutes. He was
unimpressive. President Trump was referred to as “this guy.” He mouthed
the usual Democrat banalities but he alleged that “democracy was on the
line” because the Senate changed the 60-vote cloture rule for Supreme
Court appointees in connection with the vote to confirm Justice Gorsuch.

Ellison then praised Nebraska for banning the death penalty. It is
true that the Nebraska Unicameral did abolish the death penalty. After a
citizen petition, however, voters restored it by nearly a 20 percent
margin in the November referendum. That’s how direct democracy actually
works, Keith.

Bernie Sanders was the star and he hasn’t changed from the first time
I saw him. The crowd of about 5,000 true believers stood for his entire
35-minute speech. It was mostly a rehash of his losing campaign. You
know the drill. Climate change, free college, single-payer health care,
break up the banks, redistribution of wealth, class warfare, too much
spent on defense, billionaire class rules America, overturn Citizens United,
the GOP suppresses the vote, criminal law reform, rigged economic
system, break up the big banks, tax Wall Street and paid family leave.

Senator Sanders claimed that the GOP wants to cut Social Security.
False.He said that he would be introducing a bill establishing a
national minimum wage of $15 per hour. Probably true.

The only change I could detect from last year’s campaign is that the
Democrats intend to focus more on grassroots campaigning and organizing
rather than catering to big donors. That might have helped in Wisconsin
and Michigan, but we all know that the Russians stole those states for
Donald Trump.

While Republican Jean Stothert has been a very good mayor, she hasn’t
run a very good campaign so far. She didn’t get above 50 percent of the
primary vote. Heath Mello presents himself as a young guy with a nice
smile. His speech was substance free (he supports “unifying the city”
and is running so that our children “don’t inherit a bad city”). He did
promise to stand up against D.C. (viz., Trump) and also stand up for
immigrants (sanctuary city status?).To my surprise I learned that
climate change is an issue in this municipal election because “it is
real.”

Mello’s campaign has made vague promises about the future and been
very duplicitous about Mayor Stothert’s record. Mello is trying to pin
the move of ConAgra’s headquarters from Omaha to Chicago on Stothert.
The facts are that ConAgra made a big acquisition that didn’t work out,
an activist hedge fund forced the CEO out and the new CEO moved the
headquarters to his hometown of Chicago after he got big tax breaks from
the Democrat mayor of Chicago. My view is that unless Jean Stothert
goes full Trump on this Democrat, she could lose.Trump has set the
standard for how to win and smart GOP candidates should follow it as
best they can."

Thus, Mello’s defeat is a blow to “the resistance.” His campaign
theme--“Come together. Fight back”--failed to carry the day.

Paul Crookston
at NRO points out that Mello once supported a bill requiring abortion
providers to notify women of the availability of ultrasounds. This
didn’t bother Bernie Sanders. He backed Mello forcefully. Moreover,
Mello’s rating from Planned Parenthood in 2015 was 100 percent.